1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved vehicle front pillar.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle front pillars constitute a very important part of a vehicle body which requires high rigidity. When some obstacle or other external object collides with one or both of the front pillars, the external object is often subjected to a great impact. If the rigidity of the front pillars is reduced to give preference to protection of a possible colliding external object, however, durability of the entire vehicle would be more or less sacrificed. Thus, there has been a demand for more sophisticated vehicle front pillars which can sufficiently alleviate an impact on a possible colliding external object while still retaining their necessary rigidity. Example of such vehicle front pillars giving special attention to alleviation of an impact on a possible obstacle or external object is known, for example, from Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication to No. HEI-9-39833.
In the front pillar disclosed in the HEI-9-39833 publication, inner and outer frame members are joined together to form a pillar body of a substantial tubular shape. Here, a low-rigidity shock absorbing panel is attached to the fore surface of the outer frame member, and a resin garnish is attached to the fore surface of the shock absorbing panel. In case an external object collides with the fore portion of the front pillar, the resin garnish and shock absorbing panel are both caused to deform plastically with a substantial cushion effect, to thereby alleviate the impact on the external object.
As noted above, the known front pillar only includes the shock absorbing panel on the pillar body. Namely, in the known front pillar, the impact on an external object colliding with the front pillar can be absorbed merely by the plastic deformation of the shock absorbing panel, and there is no means for absorbing the impact force after the external object reaches the pillar body. Thus, there is still great room for further improvement to sufficiently alleviate the impact on the external object. Namely, although the pillar body affords the necessary rigidity of the known front pillar, it is not designed to alleviate, by itself, the colliding impact on the external object.